5 things we learned from Big Ten football ahead of the Ohio State-Penn State showdown

Five things we learned about Big Ten football, which deserves the Saturday night spotlight. (Put Stanford-Notre Dame on your second screen.)

1. Three yards and a cloud of dust? Try 30.Penn State leads the nation in scoring, thanks to its 35-point fourth quarter in Champaign. The Nittany Lions are averaging 55.5 points. Ohio State is at 54.5 per. The two are the only FBS teams to score at least 30 touchdowns.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports asked me Sunday when was the last time the top scoring teams in the nation met — and any chance they were from the Big Ten? Yeah, Iowa and Wisconsin last Saturday. OK, not quite.

Ohio State is fourth nationally in total yards and Penn State is 14th, by the way. ABC/ESPN executives should be doing a celebratory floss (not the teeth one; ask your kids) over this prime-time matchup, which will bring “College GameDay” to State College.

2. Dwayne Haskins is the Big Ten’s Tua Tagovailoa. Tua this. Tua that. Yeah, we know he is great. His 32 drives this season have resulted in 20 touchdowns, two field goals and a per-play average of 9.32. His QB rating is an FBS-best 230.5. Second is West Virginia’s Will Greer (215.8). Third is Haskins (207.0).

Haskins, the first-year starter, is completing 75.7 percent of his passes with 16 touchdown passes and one interception. Only one Big Ten quarterback has fired more TD passes in the first four games of a season — our old friend Kyle Orton of Purdue. He had 17 after four games in 2004.

Remember when two Ohio State recruits took to Twitter last year to say that Haskins should be playing instead of J.T. Barrett? One was Jackson Carman, an offensive tackle who chose Clemson. The other was Micah Parsons, a linebacker already balling out for Penn State. Maybe they were on to something.

Just as Tagovailoa is making Alabama look like an NFL team, Haskins has taken Ohio State to another level. Sixteen Buckeyes already have scored touchdowns, matching the 2017 season total. Now let’s see what Haskins can do at a Penn State Whiteout.

3. Penn State has not maxed out. The Nittany Lions have made 22 red-zone trips and cashed in 22 times — 21 touchdowns and a field goal. And as mentioned above, the Nittany Lions are averaging 55.5 points.

But here’s the weird thing: Trace McSorley ranks 72nd in QB rating, completing just 53.8 percent of his throws, down from 66.5 percent last year. The Nittany Lions have turned it over five times, with McSorley getting picked on an ill-timed deep ball at Illinois. At least two touchdowns have been nullified by penalty. Penn State’s defense also has been flawed, as its first and second units got gashed by Illinois’ rushing attack.

So the questions: Is Penn State susceptible? Or is this a team with enough skill to mask its deficiencies? And will Beaver Stadium prove to be the great equalizer? Remember when Tamba Hali sacked Troy Smith to seal the 17-10 victory in 2005?

4. Wisconsin travels well. Not just its fans. Iowa should not feel bad about losing to Wisconsin at Kinnick Stadium. The Badgers are 15-1 in true road games under Paul Chryst, who gets about as flustered as a professional poker player facing a $1 raise.

His team reflects that. Down 17-14 with less than six minutes to play, the Badgers embarked on an 88-yard touchdown drive. Garrett Groshek’s fingertip catch on a third-and-5 was key. Alec Ingold scored the clinching touchdown and said, “I think when we’re on the road, we know we’ve got each other’s backs.”

The Badgers are now an absurdly safe bet to make it to Indianapolis and appear in their sixth Big Ten title game in the event’s eight years. Who in the West could possibly challenge them? The only other 1-0 team is Northwestern, which couldn’t beat Akron.

5. Be glad you’re not Chris Ash. OK, the $2 million-plus salary would be nice, but Ask is stuck in football hell. The New York/New Jersey market actually is paying attention to the Scarlet Knights, who got drubbed at home by Buffalo a week after getting crushed by Kansas.

Blustery radio host Mike Francesa chimed in with this Sunday: “If you’re Rutgers, how do you show your face? You give up 35 points and 350 yards in the first half? In your building? Are you serious? The score was 35-6 at the half. Buffalo called the dogs off. … They were gracious. They could’ve scored 70. If you’re Rutgers, what is going on?”